Mental

“Another day, another dollar,” Jay mutters as he makes his way home from work. He had been working at the same dead-end job since he graduated high school. He had wanted to go to college to become a doctor, but his mother got sick, and he had to work full-time and overtime to pay for her doctor bills. Now years later, his mother was gone, and he was still working the same crappy job.

Jay walked into his apartment building to see one of his neighbors walking off the elevator. ‘It’s him,’ Jay thinks, taking in the stunning blonde who's looking down at his phone and walking towards the entrance. Jay is so enraptured by him that he doesn’t notice the blonde is headed right for him until he bumps into Jay’s shoulder causing him to drop his bag and some of his stuff to spill out on the floor.

“Hey, watch where you’re going,” yells the blonde, as Jay rushes to pick up his stuff. He stands there watching Jay scramble till he sees something he instantly recognizes, a small case filled with razors. Just as he was about to say something, Jay stood up and rushed to put his bag on his shoulder.

“I am so sorry! I got lost in my head! It won’t happen again,” Jay stutters out, looking down into the blonde's blue eyes shyly. He was taller than him by at least five inches and built lean like a mixed martial artist, whereas the blonde was muscular but built more like a weightlifter type. The blonde looks into his shy jade eyes, blue eyes filled with suspicion, mouth drawn tight, eyeing Jay’s movements.

“Ya whatever just watch where you are going nerd,” he says, noticing Jay’s fanboy All Might t-shirt underneath his green zip-up sweatshirt. Just as he moves to walk past, he drops a business card into the brunette's bag.

Jay deflates from the poor interaction and thinks he just ruined his chances with the man he had been thinking about for the past couple of years since the blonde moved into his building back when Jay was 20. Now he was 25 and still hopelessly in love with the mysterious blonde across the hall. He doesn’t even notice when the blonde puts the card in his bag. The blonde notices the slouch of Jay’s shoulders and rolls his eyes.

“Listen, just… don’t stand in the doorway, okay?” ‘Was he trying to make me feel better?’ Jay thinks to himself, raising his eyebrows in surprise at the blonde. “What’s your name anyway? Aren’t you that weird neighbor across the hall,” he asks Jay, thinking about all the times he’s seen Jay stumble home and struggle to put his keys into the door lock. Always mutters to himself about random things. He would never admit it, but he has always found this strange neighbor intriguing and attractive, with those striking green eyes and mess of curly brown hair. Not that he would ever say so.

Jay’s eyes widened at the sudden question and description of his behavior. Before he can reply, the blonde moves them out of the doorway and to the side, still staring into Jay’s shocked jade eyes.

“Jay, my name is Jay Fugua. What is yours? If you want to tell me of course,” he quickly adds, not knowing if he should be this forward with the beautiful blonde.

“Danial, Danial Bennett.” ‘Danial. Perfect just like him.’ Jay thinks, staring at him in awe, not realizing he muttered it out loud. A cocky smirk rose to Danial’s face as he stared at awe-filled jade orbs, freckle-covered cheeks, and wild unkempt curly brown hair. Jay looked like a fighter to him but was nothing, but a big teddy bear Danial decided. ‘This guy is something for sure.’ Danial thinks, closing his eyes and shaking his head, the smirk still in place. He looks back up at Jay and tries not to laugh at his stupid expression. Looking at the clock behind Jay, Danial sees it was almost 8:30 p.m. and he was going to be late for work. “I have to go to work. I’ll see you around Jay,” he says walking out the door, but not before turning back to smirk at Jay who was watching him walk away. Jay was completely love-struck, and you could see it written all over his face. Chuckling Danial turned around and headed off to work.

“Did that just happen,” Jay asks himself, slowly turning around and heading for the elevator. Once he was back in his apartment, he set down his bag on the counter by the entryway. Just as he was about to walk into his living room to collapse on his couch, his bag fell over onto the floor. Spilling out all of its contents all over the floor. “Fuck really,” Jay groans, squatting down to pick everything up, but something catches his eye that he didn’t put in his bag. It was a business card for the suicide hotline. ‘Where did this come from.’ Jay raises his eyebrow in confusion. Not understanding how this could have gotten in there. Slowly, he grabs the card off the floor and stands up.

He had been feeling more and more depressed lately and now this shows up in his bag. Was this a coincidence? Or fate?

Jay walked over to his couch and sat down looking down at the card. ‘We are there for when you need a hand to reach out to help you out of the dark. No matter what, please call.’ He reads off the card. “Could it be that simple? Sure, I could use someone to talk to, but should I? There are people out there who need help more than me. My problems aren’t worth their time,” he mutters, slumping into his couch. He puts the card down onto the coffee table and groans, rubbing the heels of his hands against his eyes.

It had been a long day, and his boss was being a bigger ass than usual. He worked at a bar seven blocks away called The Beyond Bar and Grill. He was the daytime bartender and when needed he also waited tables. It was the most famous and popular in the region. Francis was the manager, something he made sure that everyone knew and flaunted all over social media. Edward Heaps was the owner, but no one saw him. He was a reclusive mixed martial artist master, who was famous back when Jay was growing up till, he got injured around the time Jay hit middle school and had to quit. He started training Jay after they first met after a fight when Jay was 10 and twice every week, he still meets up with him to keep his skills sharp.

Jay was about to turn on his TV and start his nighttime routine when there was a sudden knock on his door. He looks over his shoulder at the door before getting up to see who could be bugging him. Looking through the eye hole, he sees Skyler and Simon. He lets out an annoyed sigh before he opens the door to let his friends in.

“Hey, buddy!” Simon says, a big smile on his face.

“Hey, guys. What are you doing here,” Jay asks as he lets them into his apartment. They see the mess on the counter and floor, from when his bag fell over.

“We came to see you and make sure you were okay. I saw that my father was getting on you pretty hard today over you not being fast enough in his opinion.” Skyler says, looking through the mess on the counter as Simon picks up the stuff off the floor.

“Like I said earlier, I am fine. I just want to take a hot shower and go to bed,” Jay says, slightly irritated by the intrusion and them not believing him. Even if he was happy, they thought he was worth checking in on.

“You know we worry about you. Living by yourself after… everything. We just wanna make sure you don’t go back to old habits,” Simon says pointing at the case of razors on the counter. Jay freaks out, running to grab it and put it in his pocket. Jade eyes were still wide in embarrassment and fear. He never wanted his friends to see that, especially since one of them had dried blood on it.

“Jay, please give me the case,” Skyler asks gently, bringing his hand up to move to the pocket that held the case. Jay takes a step back and crosses his arms looking away from them.

“I’m fine. I don’t need you to baby me and you guys have more important things to worry about.” Jay refused to look at them and went to move to walk around them. They both stood in front of him, refusing to let him pass.

“Please Jay. You are our friend, and we care about you.” Skyler tries again to reach for the case of razors.

“Ya Skyler’s right. There is nothing more important to us right now than making sure you are safe,” Simon says, pleading with Jay to give them the razors. Jay finally lets out a deep sigh and gives in. Giving them the case of razors, knowing he has more in the bathroom cabinet. Skyler smiles as Jay gives him the case. Bringing him in for a hug, along with Simon.

“Thank you, Jay. I know you think you aren’t worth our time.” Jay looked away at that, knowing that it was true. He didn’t think he was worth anyone's time. “But you are worth it to us. You are our friend, and we will not let you hurt yourself,” Skyler tells him, hoping that it will get through to Jay’s stubborn brain. They let go of the hug and moved to the couch. There Simon sees the card for the hotline, instantly mentally face-palming realizing that he should have thought of that months ago. Especially when they saw the thick bandages around Jay’s wrists one day, that was not a good day for anyone.

“Jay, where did you get this?” Simon held up the card for him to see. Jay’s eyes widened, and he swiped the card from Simon’s hand.

“That… that’s nothing. I found it in my bag after I got home. I just threw it on the coffee table before you guys showed up. Let me just throw it away real quick. My problems aren’t that bad anyways,” Jay whispers in the last part, getting up from the couch. Both Skyler and Simon rush to grab his hands to stop him.

“Wait!” They shout at the same time, startling Jay.

“Just wait, don’t throw it away. Maybe this is a sign that you need to reach out for help, from someone who can give you the help we can’t,” Skyler says softly, pulling Jay to sit back down between them on the couch. Simon nods, looking from Skyler to Jay.

“He’s right Jay. I work there sometimes, and I know for a fact that you would not be wasting anyone's time. We get so many different kinds of callers and sometimes you just need to talk to someone else other than friends and family for help. That is what those people are for. What we are for, the help no one else can give.” Jay looks away from Simon and claps his hands in his lap. He is hunched over, resting his forearms on his thighs. Skyler rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. Simon and Skyler looked at each other and then back at Jay, knowing that they should leave Jay alone on this subject for now. Simon gets up and starts moving towards the kitchen. “How about I cook us some dinner, huh?”

“Sounds good to me. What about you, Jay? Is this okay,” Skyler asks looking over at Jay, who is still hunched over staring at the ground. “Jay.” He gently nudges Jay’s shoulder, trying to get his attention.

“What, oh ya dinner, sure. I don’t have much in the pantry, but you can see what I have. If you guys want you can order something and I will pay,” Jay said, straightening his back and rubbing his hands up and down his thighs.

“Jay what do you even eat, or do you even eat? Your kitchen is empty,” Simon says, completely stunned even though he feels like he shouldn’t be. “Okay, I am going to go get us food and then we will have dinner. How does that sound,” he says while taking out his phone. Thankfully he knew the perfect place to get the food they needed. Simon’s best friend just so happened to be a master chef and lived in the same building as Jay. He was over there last night for dinner, and he knew there were plenty of leftovers for the three of them. Real quick he sent a text to his friend asking if he could take the leftovers to feed a friend in need. Like Simon thought, he got cussed out before his friend finally said yes. “I got our food, now I just need to go pick it up. Be right back.” With that, he walks out the door.

“Jay, are you sure you don’t want to come live with me,” Skyler asks, once the door closes. They had been best friends since they were in 4th grade when Skyler was first put into public school and had no idea how to behave with the other kids. His father had kept him, and his siblings locked away from the outside world for their whole lives before their mother finally divorced him and took the kids with her. He still had to spend time with his father, but the man no longer got a say in how his mother chose to raise him and his siblings. Jay had been his first friend when he came up to Skyler out of nowhere and demanded they be friends. When Jay first started to show suicidal tendencies after his mother passed, he invited Jay to live with him. Instead, Jay sold his family home and just kept working at the bar. He no longer had the drive to go to college and become a doctor like he wanted.

“Thank you for the offer Skyler, but I’ll be okay. You don’t need to worry about me,” Jay says, putting on a fake smile. Skyler sees right through him and knows that he is faking it to make Skyler happy. He sighs looking away from Jay and gets up off the couch just as Simon walks in through the door. Two grocery bags full of food containers.

“Okay, so, we have; spicy curry, fried rice, miso soup, and katsudon. All of it is delicious! Enjoy,” Simon said, with a huge smile on his face. The others were shocked by the amount of food. The containers were so big that only two of them could fit in one of the bags. Jay got them plates and silverware, setting them by the food on the counter.

Once everyone was plated up they moved to the dining room table that separated the kitchen from the living room. They enjoyed their food together, talking about their days and bitching about stupid bosses that they wish would get fired. By the end of the meal, Simon collected all the leftover food and containers.

“I’ll take these back to my friends on my way home. He actually lives in this building,” he says while putting the last container in the grocery bag. Jay perks up at that knowledge, curious to find out who made the greatest katsudon he has ever had.

“Really,” he asks, a little too eager. His eyes shone with the hope that he could finally meet the chef that blew his mind and taste buds. The others look at each other and then back at him, laughing.

“Ya, he works with me at the hotline office. That’s where we met, but I don’t think he would like it if people started showing up at his apartment asking for food,” Simon says, rubbing the back of his head and looking embarrassed. Jay deflates and sags against the counter behind him, dropping his head and crossing his arms. “Sorry bro, but if it makes you feel better, whenever he makes it again, I can ask if I can bring you the leftovers?”

“Really?!” Simon laughs at Jay’s happy expression. He looked like a kid who was told they just got a puppy. Simon nods laughing, while Skyler is happy that his best friend is laughing and giving a real smile. They spend the rest of their time together laughing and just enjoying each other's company.

Later that night, after his friends had left, Jay lay in bed trying to figure out if he should listen to them and use that hotline number. But the last thought that goes through his head is a gorgeous blonde with striking blue eyes by the name of Danial.